


Water Lily

by NightPurity



Series: Discord Shance Mini Fics [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, I wrote this a long time ago, Lance is a Nymph, M/M, Mutual Pining, No happy end, Shiro is human, Tragedy, but only now am I posting it, character death (mentioned), character death (sort of), kind of, nymph au, what even are tags?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 04:25:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11478570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightPurity/pseuds/NightPurity
Summary: "The beings said to be found in there are beautiful, and one could charm men and women alike, the beings themselves having been said to have no definite gender, possibly because they don't exist young men would grumble in response."





	Water Lily

**Author's Note:**

> This was written months ago, and only now have I decided to post it (Actually thanks to Vodka and Green <3) and it's not proof read or beta read, so yeah, not the best c:

There were stories of unnaturally beautiful people, they tended to live out near the woods, but they never came to town, and no one ever was sure they were  _ actual _ people. Nymphs, the old legends said, sprites, others said, rubbish the younger men would say. Beauty is found in everything, and though Shiro had been warned, and others brushed off the old man who warned him, he still found himself heading towards the northern meadow, just inside the forest

 

The beings said to be found in there are beautiful, and one could charm men and women alike, the beings themselves having been said to have no definite gender, possibly because they don't exist young men would grumble in response. 

 

Shiro would have to say, though, if it wasn't for the fact the handsome man watching him was rather loud and hardly charming, he would say they did exist. The man had soft brown hair, bright blue eyes, a lanky and tall figure, toned but still slender. His skin was clear, no flaws, and he wore a silk blue outfit, white adorning in markings and designs.

 

Shiro was a little startled to find the man in the meadow, having been sitting at the edge of the pond watching the water, though if he was being honest, he hadn't assumed the stranger was a man at first. The voice, though, told him the stranger’s gender. They at first were wary of each other, but each time Shiro returned, the man was always there, sometimes in different but elegant clothing, other times, in a simple blue silk fabric clinging to his shoulders and hugging his hips. Shiro wouldn't admit he began to enjoy the man's company, and they soon became friends. Lance, the stranger’s name, was rather friendly, but despite how open he seemed, Shiro didn't really know much about the man.

 

As time wore on, Lance remained near flawless in looks, silly and loud in voice, and gentle and caring in mind. Shiro was only a little embarrassed to admit he had fallen for the pretty stranger. Something changed though, as Shiro grew wearier and more exhausted. Lance began pushing him away, and that frightened Shiro. He'd come to care deeply, and even depend, on Lance. The other man was a breath of fresh air, free and compassionate, it calmed Shiro to spend time with Lance, the stress of being a soldier wearing him down.

 

Lance pushed him away more often, to the point Lance was begging him to stop coming, begging Shiro to leave and never return. Beauty hides darkness, it takes over one's mind and actions, it changes views and corrupts those around, always changing, always shifting. It was weeks before Shiro found himself hurt, deeply, when Lance was immediately turning Shiro away, urging Shiro to go and stop returning. He asked why, he tried to explain how he felt, but Lance shut him down.

 

Lance couldn't let Shiro stay, at first he was happy Shiro was coming to the meadow, that Shiro had been so nice. He was a great person, and because of that, Lance needed to push him away.

 

Lance was a water Nymph, but unlike a lot of the more sweet talking ones, he could change his appearance to better charm those around them, depending on his looks rather than his words. Despite how harmless and highly talked about, Nymphs were far worse than humans think. They use sweet words to charm humans, to spread those stories and make people seek them out. They fed on the attraction and feelings of humans, having hardly any of their own, and absorbed the human's life force the more often they were around, some would straight take the human's soul in one go.

 

Lance was not normally so slow, he tended to take immediately, he wasn't very patient, not like Allura and Pidge were, or as sweet of a talker like Hunk. He lured them in with looks, trapped them with a few glances and open flirtations, then took their lives then. But Shiro was different, and not as easily swayed, so Lance took his time, and before long, he was falling for the human.

 

They weren't meant to be, he wasn't supposed to fall in love with what he fed from. Humans do not love or care about the feelings of the animals they plan to eat, Nymphs were similar in that aspect, they played with the human's feelings to get close and consume their souls. So when Lance noticed the heat and warmth in Shiro's eyes, he knew he couldn't do it. Not when Shiro truly loved him, so he pushed and tried to send Shiro on his way.

 

Lance decided he would have to show Shiro, to prove he couldn't love Lance and that he mustn't return. So he showed his teeth, he revealed that he fed on humans, he tried as hard as he could to express the true nature of Nymphs, but Shiro still tried to stay.

 

So Lance did what he had to, he took Shiro's memories of them, he took himself out of Shiro's life, and trapped it within a flower, planted and kept in his waters to keep Shiro from remembering and to never let himself forget.

 

He was not meant to love, Nymphs were lonely creatures, they fed on those they lured in, they only sought each other out in moments of keeping boundaries, or when they would go and find another Nymph to draw a slight essence from to create a new Nymph. They were not lovers or anything of the like by nature, they did not live, nor were they dead. They existed and made new Nymphs with their life force and another Nymphs to keep their lives longer, by transferring parts of themselves into new bodies. They weren't like humans, they didn't nurture, they literally created another Nymph like one would mix water, then explain their nature, and leave.

 

So, as Lance turned to look at the lotus flowers in his pond, he wondered just what he existed for, what he remained in existence for, if all he did was eat, kill, and remain alone. The glowing lotus in the center of his pond reminded him that there was nothing for him, and nothing waiting for him. He existed, then one day he wouldn't. There was nothing for him in what humans and mortal creatures refer to as  _ life  _ only being and then nothing. He's heard stories of Nymphs becoming what they were used to be made. Though when a Nymph's existence is over, they are usually alone, so no one truly knows....

 

Shiro, however does. Having one day, way later in his life, seen the very Nymph he had loved, but was forced to forget, return to the water two Nymphs used to create him. Shiro would never understand what he saw, nor why it ached to see such a thing.

 

The lotus holding his memories are left where they are, dying out when Shiro died. Many will tell stories, stories of creatures not as elegant or sweet as they are made out to be, many will die and fall to Nymphs, and neither will mix.

 

There is no love for Nymphs, for they exist without reason, and return to what they were. There is nothing but an endless cycle, a fate cruel and eternal.

**Author's Note:**

> Not much for angst I suppose, but thank you for checking it out. Sorry for the bad writing c:


End file.
